


Heartbeat

by wononetoo



Category: IT, IT - Stephen King
Genre: Fix-It, M/M, Mentions of Blood, Swearing
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-09-11
Updated: 2019-09-11
Packaged: 2020-11-02 03:04:05
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,733
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20600585
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/wononetoo/pseuds/wononetoo
Summary: Richie could hear his heart beating in his throat as he held his breath, watching as the remains of IT dissipated into the atmosphere.He slowly forced his chest to exhale, blowing away the tiny dust partials that still hung in the air.They’d done it.They’d won./A short fix-it fic I wrote immediately after seeing the movie





	Heartbeat

Richie could hear his heart beating in his throat as he held his breath, watching as the remains of IT dissipated into the atmosphere.

He slowly forced his chest to exhale, blowing away the tiny dust partials that still hung in the air.

They’d done it.

They’d won.

Richie could hear the sharp inhales coming from the other losers as they began making the same revelation. As oxygen started flowing through his body again, a twinge in the back of his mind almost physically knocked him backwards.

“Eddie.”

The name stung as he turned from the spot where pennywise had been laying, stumbling over the rocky floor as he made his way down the slope.

He wasn’t sure if the others were following him and frankly, he didn’t give a fuck. the only thought his brain could process at the moment was how urgently he needed to get back to Eddie. He felt his knees wobble as he saw the slack figures of Eddie’s legs, poking out from behind a rock.

Grabbing onto the edge of the rock that Eddie had been propped up against, Richie kneeled as he took the corner.

Eddie’s head had lulled to the side, his face lax, mouth hanging open slightly.

“Eddie…” Richie whispered and without hesitation reached up and grabbed the side of Eddie’s face, not making any effort to avoid his bandaged cheek. Instead he purposefully cupped the injured side, hoping to draw some kind of reaction like he had earlier. Any kind of reaction was better then nothing.

But nothing was what he was met with.

“C’mon Eds, we did it.” His voice cracking as he raised his other hand to Eddie’s face, lifting his chin up, ignoring the lack of resistance in Eddie’s body. Richie now had to deal with the blank expressionless face of the first person he had ever loved angled directly as him, and he felt the sting in his eye’s as he rocked Eddie’s head gently.

“We gotta get you outta here.” The end of his sentence died off as a hand gripped onto his shoulder.

“…Richie…”

It was Bev. Her voice almost to soft to hear under the low rumbling coming from the center of the large room.

“He’s fine! We just have to get him out of here!” Richie could feel himself talking but the sound didn’t seem to reach his ears as he lowered one of his hands to Eddie’s chest, wincing at the warm wet feeling of blood as he pushed down.

Another hand was placed on his shoulder, a larger one, gripping tighter, pulling.

“He’s – he’s gone Richie, we need to leave. Now.”

Bev spoke again, raising her voice, as loud as she seemed able. Richie shrugged the hands off his shoulders, looking up at where he so delicately caressed the side of Eddie’s cheek. his eye’s trailed along the lines of Eddie’s face, trying the best he could in the circumstance to commit them to memory.

“…Richie.” It was a male voice that time, Richie wasn’t sure who’s, followed by the hand back on his shoulder.

With a shaky breath, the stubborn attempt at denial and holding back tears shattered and Richie’s head dropped forward, smashing his glasses into his face as he leaned his forehead against Eddie’s collarbone.

The faint rumbling had grown louder, as well as the urgency in the tugging on his shoulder.

Richie forced it all out of his brain. If this was going to be the last moments he spent with Eddie then he was going to make it just the two of them. As he closed his eye’s and his senses dulled out the cracking of earth, he heard it.

His eyes shot open as he turned his head and pressed his ear feverishly against Eddie’s chest.

It was faint, but it was definitely there.

A heartbeat.

Shallow and laboured, but a heartbeat none the less.

“HE’S ALIVE!” Richie yelled leaping up from his knees and grabbing the arm of the first person he could. “HE’S ALIVE, FUCKING HELP ME!”

It was Ben who’s eyes he met as he turned to look up hopefully. Ben’s expression changed from sympathy to determination, as he nodded to Richie and crouched down on the other side of Eddie.

Richie shook with appreciation as he slid the hand that had been applying pressure to the hole in the middle of Eddie’s chest around to Eddie’s back. The two of them had Eddie off of the ground in no time, balancing his weight between them.

As Richie focused on their surrounding for the first time since he had knelt down at Eddie’s side, he realized why Bev had been so panicked. The sides of the cavern were beginning to crumble, large boulders cracking away from the siding.

A dark thought pierced through Richie’s head. What if he had imagined the beating sound and had just killed them all over a false hope. The soft groan that came from his right drove that away.

Richie looked down as Eddie’s eyes scrunched up in pain, his head hanging weakly, a soft puff of air making its way out of his lungs.

“RICHIE, BEN, OVER HERE.” Richie's head snapped away, turning towards Bill, who stood at the edge of the pathway they had taken from Neibolt. Bev and Mike stood behind him wide eyed and shouting at them to hurry.

Richie stepped to follow but was held back. He quickly turned to Ben who was shaking his head.

“WE’LL NEVER GET HIM UP THE WELL.” Ben yelled, both for Richie and the others to hear. He paused and looked around the circler cavern. He nodded towards a small tunnel on the opposite end. “THAT WAY. THE BARRONS SHOULD BE THAT WAY.”

Richie nodded, first at Ben and then over at Bill, hoping that he had heard Bens plan. With a small understanding nod from Bill, him and Ben were off, hobbling with the added weight of Eddie.

The confused screams of Bev were cut off by the thundering sound of more chunks of wall crashing to the ground.

The two of them worked together, Ben stopping before every split in their path, seeming to be reading some kind of invisible map that Richie couldn’t see. Richie could only focus on keeping his legs moving, the slight movement of life in the body pressed against his side driving him on even after his legs screamed for him to stop.

Eventually the rocky walls of the cave system faded into smoother, lighter stone. the weirdly familiar cylindrical shape of the Derry sewer tunnels were something Richie never thought he could be so happy to be surrounded by.

“Almost Eddie, hold on.” He whispered under his breath, or what little breath he had left. Eddie didn’t respond but the slight lift in his chest spoke a thousand words to Richie.

The rumbling sound of the cave in, had died down and Ben took a few seconds longer at each divide before confidently heading down one way.

If the sight of the sewer infrastructure was the best thing Richie had ever experienced, the sound of rushing water was absolutely indescribable.

The sun was blinding as they emerged from the tunnel.

“You’re fucking incredible Ben.” Richie laughed, playfully punching ben in the side behind Eddie’s back.

It took some work but eventually the two managed to escort Eddie out of the tree surrounded creek, up the steep muddy slope, and onto the side of the hardly used road, all while Eddie slowly began to make more noises of protest.

‘Ow” Eddie groaned as they propped him up against the side of the bridge, Ben wondered further down the road, pulling his phone out and dialing something.

The faded red of the bridge covering launching Richie back into a memory that he couldn’t believe he had forgotten. How nervous he had been when he had been here last, the handle of the knife that he had ‘borrowed’ from his dad digging into his palm.

Richie smiled and sank to sit beside Eddie, his back leaning against the aging wood as Eddie squinted up at the sky, the front of his shirt completely soaked as he held his wound.

“Ow…I was fucking almost impaled.” Eddie spoke softly, pain laced in his words. Richie simply hummed and let his head rest back, copying Eddie’s posture.

“…I should be dead.” Eddie continued even softer, his face scrunching as he looked over at Richie.

“I’m glad you’re not...” Richie reply, instantly. As fast as he had started the sentence, it trailed off as he felt a hand placed lightly, almost hesitantly over his. Richie’s eyes did a U as they dropped down to look at their hands and then up towards Eddie’s face.

Pain and fear filled Eddie’s face as he looked up at Richie. Richie turned his hand under Eddie’s, interlacing their fingers together as best he could from the somewhat awkward position. Eddie’s expression subtly changed, it was still pained but a certain softness had taken over where the fear had been.

The corner of Richie’s lips were beginning to upturn when he noticed something from the corner of his eye. Although it was faded there was no mistaking his shoddy attempt at carving from all those years ago.

Not wanting to remove his hand from Eddie’s and see that scared expression again, he rotated his body to graze to wood with the knuckle of his other hand.

Eddie, trying not to move to much, followed Richie’s movements with his eyes.

R+E

“Just think.” Richie started, smiling to himself. “We fought a fucking man-eating clown when we were kids and carving this stupid ass coupla lines in some wood was one of the most nerve-wracking things I can remember doing.”

there was a silent pause before Richie turned back to face Eddie, as he turned all he saw was movement. 

It wasn’t necessarily the press of lips against his that shocked him. It was the pure emotion that came with it, whether it was coming from him, or Eddie, or both, he wasn’t to sure, he was pretty sure it was both, and he was happy with that. 

The kiss lasted until Richie heard the gravelly sound of Ben approaching. Richie leaned back first, the smile that he had on before had doubled, with Eddie's being more of a pained smirk. 

“Ow”


End file.
